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Woman's Hour

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Women's voices and women's lives - topical conversations to inform, challenge and inspire.

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Jenni Murray

Dianne McGregor

Catherine Noone

Sophie Stanton

Eve Pollard

Piu Eatwell

Laura Watson

Joan Hamer

Woman's Hour: Abortion referendum in Ireland, Prostitution, The murder of Elizabeth Short 'The Black Dahlia'

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Abortion referendum in Ireland, Prostitution, The murder of Elizabeth Short 'The Black Dahlia'

28/09/2017

BBC Radio 4 - Woman's Hour, Abortion referendum in Ireland, Prostitution, The murder of Elizabeth Short 'The Black Dahlia'

The abortion referendum in Ireland. Working life for women in Fleet Street.

The abortion referendum in Ireland. Exploring working life for women in 1960s Fleet Street with former newspaper editor Eve Pollard.

Ireland plans to hold a referendum on abortion next year. At the moment the laws on abortion in Ireland are some of the strictest in Europe. Abortion is only allowed if the life of the mother is in danger, and anyone who is convicted of having an illegal abortion could face up to fourteen years in prison. Jenni speaks to Senator Catherine Noone, Chair of the Oireachtas Committee on the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution. 

In 1969 Rupert Murdoch took over The Sun newspaper. The play 'Ink' at the Duke of York Theatre London follows the first year of the paper, from the hiring of the first Woman's Editor Joyce Hopkirk to the launch of page 3. Jenni speaks to Sophie Stanton who plays Joyce in the play and the former newspaper editor Eve Pollard, about what it is was like at that time to be a woman working in Fleet Street. 

Elizabeth Short, known posthumously as 'The Black Dahlia', was an American woman who was found murdered in 1947. For her new book, the writer and former lawyer Piu Eatwell has re-examined one of America's most notorious unsolved murders, and attempted to solve the crime. 

On yesterday's programme we heard from the feminist campaigner and writer Julie Bindel who wants to abolish the global sex trade. Today we hear from an independent sex worker and Laura Watson from the English Collective of Prostitutes 

And we delve into the Woman's Hour archive. Joan Hamer describes her account of life in a wheelchair in 1962. 

Presenter: Jenni Murray 
Producer: Dianne McGregor.

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